Liquid softening through the wash laundry detergent compositions are capable of softening and cleaning fabric during a washing process. It is known that silicones can be used as fabric-softening actives and can be incorporated in liquid laundry detergent compositions to provide a fabric-softening benefit during the washing process. However, simply incorporating a silicone in a liquid laundry detergent composition does not always confer a good fabric-softening performance to the composition.
In order to achieve a good fabric-softening performance during the washing process, detergent manufacturers have considered using silicone emulsions. For example, WO97/31997 describes silicone emulsions that can be used in liquid softening through the wash laundry detergent compositions. However, the fabric-softening performance of these silicone emulsions is still not good enough and needs to be improved.
One method of improving the fabric-softening performance of these silicone emulsions is to use them in combination with a cationic fabric-softening compound. For example, WO97/31998 describes combinations of silicone emulsions and cationic fabric-softening compounds that can be used in liquid softening through the wash laundry detergent compositions. However, the combination of a silicone emulsion and a cationic fabric-softening compound reduce the cleaning and whiteness-maintenance performance of liquid softening through the wash laundry detergent compositions.
In view of the negative effect that this combination has on the cleaning and whiteness-maintenance performance of the composition, detergent manufacturers have not been able to successfully formulate a liquid softening through the wash laundry detergent composition that has both a good fabric-softening performance and a good cleaning and whiteness-maintenance performance. When formulating a liquid softening through the wash laundry detergent composition, detergent manufacturers have to carefully balance the fabric-softening performance of the composition against the cleaning and whiteness-maintenance performance of the composition. To date, all known liquid softening through the wash laundry detergent compositions that comprise a fabric-softening silicone and that have good fabric-softening performance, do not have an adequate cleaning and whiteness-maintenance performance.